Seer

by Robin Roseau

“I dreamt about you before we met,” I told her at the end.

  “You did?”

  “It was a week or two before that meeting at MetaWolf.”

  “Is that why you looked at me so strangely?” I nodded.

  “I was sort of relieved, actually.”

  “Oh?”

  “It wasn’t a good dream.”

  “Oh?”

  I didn’t tell her all of it. “In it, you were a vampire.”

  “A vampire?”

  “Sometimes the dreams are metaphors. Sometimes I can tell it’s a metaphor. Usually I can tell. This one felt literal. Like you were really a vampire. But that didn’t make sense. So I decided it was a metaphor, and that when I met you, I would discover you were…” I paused.

  “A blood sucking lawyer.”

  I laughed nervously. “Yeah. It left me quite flustered, as you saw.”

  “What else happened in that dream?”

  “Um.” I paused. “None of it makes sense.”

  “Tell me.”

  “I don’t want to, Solange.”

  She paused. “All right. Have you had more dreams about me?”

  I nodded. “I had another one with you and Aubree. You were both wearing the oddest clothing, but it was another metaphor dream, so who knows what that means.”

  “Oddest clothing?”

  “You were in some sort of period costume, like you were going to a costume party. She was too, but she was wearing a maid’s outfit like you might see on Downton Abbey. And you were. Um.”

  “Kissing?”

  “Yeah. And you bit her neck. But then the dream shifted, and I knew time had passed. And she was biting some guy.”

  “So in your dreams, Aubree is a vampire, too?”

  “Only in that one,” I said. “It’s another metaphor, probably for how you made her what she is.”

  “Made her?”

  “You know, the entire maid to high powered lawyer, Cinderella story.”

  “Ah, of course. Another metaphor.”

  “Right.”

  “So, you have these dreams, and sometimes you can change the future.”

  “No,” I said. “If the dream says it’s going to happen, and it’s not a metaphor, then it happens. Every time. But my dream about today ended before you could get hit. I saw the car, and then the dream ended.”

  “Your dream saved my life, or at least saved me a trip to the hospital.”

  “Yes.”

  She hugged me. “Thank you. And thank you for telling me about the dreams.”

  “You believe me?”

  “Of course. But now I want to know about your other dreams about me.”

  “Wondering if we live happily ever after?”

  She laughed. “No. I already know the answer to that question. Tell me, Sidney.”

  “The rest are tame,” I said. “There have only been a few.” I told her about them. “See? That’s what most of them are, just little things. But it did help me set you in a hand of 500 the night you wore the plastic fangs.”

  “I couldn’t believe Aubree made me wear vampire fangs. I imagined you thought it was hilarious on top of your dreams.”

  “Yeah. I almost said something then, but you wouldn’t have understood.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Solange replied. “A seer.” She paused. “I always knew you were special, from the moment we met. And you are. But to add this on top of it.” She tilted my chin up so I was looking into her eyes. “Sidney, I’ve been waiting to tell you something.”

  “Oh?”

  “I love you.”

  I stared at her. We hadn’t exchanged those words, but I knew I loved her, that I had for a while.

  I didn’t answer her right away, not with words. Instead, I pulled myself up for a kiss. It was salty, and I hoped she didn’t care. I shifted around, straddling her, and pressed my body against hers. She wrapped her arms around me and held me tightly.

  “I love you, too, Solange,” I whispered into her ear.

  We held each other like that for a while.

  “Feeling better?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Will you take me for a boat ride, or did you have something else planned?”

  “A boat ride would be lovely.” But she didn’t let me go. “Sidney, I want you to tell me when you’ve had a dream. Will you do that for me?”

  I nodded. “All right.”

  “Thank you.”

  * * * *

  Halloween approached. Solange told me she didn’t get trick or treaters at her house, so I asked her to come help at my house. Then I told her she had to wear a costume, and I was picking it out.

  “You’re going to make me dress like a vampire, aren’t you?”

  “You got that right,” I told her.

  “I’ll agree on one condition.”

  “Oh?”

  “I get to pick yours.”

  “No way. You’ll dress me as a princess or something stupid.”

  “Maybe we’d both be vampires.”

  “Is that what you were going to pick?”

  She paused before answering. “No.”

  “You got to hear what I wanted you to wear,” I said. “I want to hear before I agree.”

  “Would you go as my victim?”

  I laughed. “Yes.”

  “My sexy victim.”

  I laughed again. “We’re handing out candy to young children, Solange, not going to some sort of kinky orgy.”

  “We can have the kinky orgy after the last child has come and gone.”

  “I was going to invite Aubree.”

  “To our kinky orgy?”

  “To help pass out candy.”

  “Are you going to make her wear a costume, too?”

  “I was thinking a French Maid,” I replied.

  Solange laughed but said, “No. And don’t ever give her that as a booby prize, either. She’s self-conscious about her background.”

  “I was going to make her a vampire, too.”

  “Then we need to invite someone as her victim. If you recall, I don’t share.”

  “We could see if Dolores wants to come, but she probably wants to pass out candy in her own neighborhood.”

  “She could come over afterwards. Halloween is a Friday night this year.”

  “The sofa in my office is a hide-a-bed,” I said. “We could make them arm wrestle over who has to sleep on it. Or would Aubree go home?”

  “She’d stay if we invited her. Aubree doesn’t have many friends, and she’s thanked me for allowing her to become friends with you and Dolores.”

  “Allowing?” I asked, my eyebrow arched.

  “I told you, I don’t share.”

  “You don’t share my body, but you do not get to pick my friends, Solange.”

  She held up her hands. “I’m not trying to. It was Aubree coming to that conclusion, not me.”

  I glared at her for a minute then said, “I’m serious about this though.”

  “Have I begrudged your time with Dolores?”

  “No.”

  “Well then, I don’t think you should be mad for something I haven’t done.”

  I nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry I got my back up.”

  “Forgiven.” I got a quick peck. “So we are agreed. I will let you pick my costume, and you will allow me to pick yours.”

  “I think you should wear a period costume,” I said. “Something old fashioned. Do you think we can find something?”

  “Of course,” she said.

  “I’ll do your makeup.”

  “I am not wearing cheap plastic fangs though.”

  “Oh, you are definitely wearing fangs,” I told her. “Non-negotiable.”

  “I’ll wear the fangs, only because I’m going to bite you with them, but they won’t be cheap plastic. You are going to have to trust me.”

  “I am going to have a set of the cheapest, nastiest plastic fangs I can find, and if I am not satisfied with your solution, you will wear them. All nigh
t. Without complaints.”

  “Even to bed?”

  “Okay, maybe not to bed.”

  “I agree to your rules.”

  So we made our phone calls. Dolores loved the idea. “But you know, I only had ten kids last year. If you let me help decorate, I’d rather just come over early instead.”

  “Want to take the day off and bake?”

  “Yes!” she said. “You know, Solange’s house would be really, really fun to decorate.”

  “I thought about that, but she doesn’t get any kids at all, and I get tons. It would be almost a crime to spend all that time decorating the house and then not have a huge party to go with it.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” Dolores said. “Do you go all out with your decorations?”

  “I haven’t in the past. I’m not very artistic.”

  She paused. “You know. You haven’t seen me at my best.”

  “Your best?”

  “Sidney, I’m in marketing. Think about it.”

  I did. “Oh my god,” I said. “When do we start?”

  “We’ve got three weeks,” she said. “Invite me to dinner.”

  “Would you like to come to dinner?”

  “Yes. I’ll be there in an hour.” She clicked off before I could warn her she’d agreed to let Solange and Aubree pick her costume.

  I turned to Solange. “Dolores is coming to dinner. Call Aubree back and invite her, too.”

  She laughed, made a quick call, and then we discussed whether we should get dressed before anyone arrived.

  Dolores arrived, carting in two large bags of what would turn out to be various art supplies. She traded kisses with Solange and me then said, “Don’t even think about cooking dinner. We can have pizza or someone can go pick up Chinese.”

  “There’s garlic in pizza,” Solange said, “And Aubree is allergic.”

  “Oh, right,” Dolores said.

  “The Thai place is good.”

  “Perfect,” Dolores said. “Now, how far do you want to go with this?”

  “With Thai?” Solange asked.

  “Decorating the house!” Dolores said in mock exasperation. “Get with the program.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I usually just put up some stuff I bought at Target one year.”

  “If that’s what you want, we can do that, but maybe you want to have some real fun. But if so, we’re spending your money, because I can’t afford it.”

  “I’ll pay for everything,” Solange said.

  “No, no,” I said. “My house. My responsibility. You can pay when we have the parties at your house.” I grinned at her. “How much are we talking, Dolores?”

  “Well, clearly we could get by with almost nothing. Or we can go way over the top. How about I do some sketches, and then we can decide.”

  “If it’s too much…” Solange started to say.

  “Hush.” She hushed.

  “Let’s start outside,” Dolores said. She dug through her bags and grabbed a sketch pad and little box of pencils and was out the door seconds later, Solange and me in tow. Then we watched as Dolores walked back and forth in front of the house before sitting down in the grass next to the base of the driveway. She opened the sketch pad and began quickly drawing.

  Solange and I moved behind her, looking over her shoulder. A minute into it, she asked, “Did you know she could draw?”

  “No. It’s never come up. I didn’t know.”

  “I went to college wanting to be an artist,” she said. “However, I didn’t want to be a starving artist, so I studied marketing.”

  It didn’t take her long until she had sketched the view from where she sat. It wasn’t terribly detailed, but it was clear she had drawn the front of my house and the surrounding landscaping.

  “All right,” she said. “We can go simple.”

  “Start with more than simple,” I said, and she grinned up at me.

  “We can do a graveyard setting,” she said. “But everyone does those. If that’s what you want, we can do it, but I have something else in mind.” She was grinning at both of us, like a kid in a candy store.

  “Oh, do tell,” I said.

  “The house from The Munsters.” She turned back to her pad and began adding things.

  She was still drawing when Aubree arrived. She got out of her car and moved to stand next to Solange, looking at the drawing.

  Dolores stood up, kissed and hugged Aubree, then turned the sketch pad around and began explaining everything.

  “You can do all that?” I asked.

  “If I can get some qualified help,” she said. “And a budget. Some of it might be expensive, and I don’t know where you’ll store it when we take it all back down.”

  “I have space, if you don’t,” Solange offered immediately.

  “Boss,” said Aubree, “I have a lot of vacation time built up.”

  “Seeing as how you never take vacations, I’d agree with that,” Solange replied.

  “I’d like to take some time off between now and November first, if Dolores would let me help.”

  That earned her another kiss from Dolores, which amused everyone.

  “Going to start wearing that tee shirt I gave you?” I asked her.

  “What?” She frowned. “Oh. No. Aubree knows I don’t mean anything.”

  I glanced at Aubree but couldn’t tell if she was disappointed by that statement. I looked back to Dolores. “What will it cost?”

  She turned her drawing back and frowned. “I don’t know. If I do all of it? Maybe a couple of grand.” She sighed. “That’s too much. If I get rid of-”

  “No,” I said. “Do it the way you want. A couple of grand is fine, although I’d prefer if we can store it for next year. I was afraid you were going to say twenty.”

  “Oh, no. Probably not even two grand, if I’m creative. I can cut corners.”

  “No,” I said. “Do it the way you want.”

  She smiled. “How would you feel about buying a couple of fog machines? They’re actually not very expensive.”

  “Where would you put them?” Aubree asked.

  “Here and here,” Dolores pointed to her drawing.

  Aubree studied the drawing, then she took it and began walking around the yard, pointing out features and where they would be. She and Dolores discussed them, then Aubree said, “Get four. Flood the area closest to the house.”

  “Four is a waste,” Dolores said. “They’re like a hundred bucks each.”

  “Get them,” I said. “Do we have time? I can’t imagine you just run over to Home Depot.”

  “You can get them online,” Dolores said.

  “I’ll take care of that part,” Aubree said. “I’ll make sure they arrive in plenty of time to test them out and make sure we’re satisfied.”

  “Get plenty of fog juice, too,” Dolores said. “Lots.” She turned to me. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded. And got a kiss for it. It was a nice kiss, and Solange just smirked.

  “All right,” Dolores said. “Now let’s talk about the inside.”

  “You know, I’m going to be worthless for help. I can’t do any of this, and if you ask me to try, I’ll ruin it.”

  “I’m not any better,” Solange said.

  “We’ll handle everything,” Aubree said. “I’ll pay for everything and submit an invoice.”

  “If they’re doing the work,” Solange said, “At least let me split the cost with you, Sidney.”

  “We’ll see,” I said. “End of conversation.”

  “For now,” she agreed.

  Dolores and Aubree were both kids in a candy store, and over the next two weeks, my yard and house was transformed from lovely, welcoming home in suburbia to welcome but haunting — and presumably haunted — mini-mansion.

  It was a little frightening, actually.

  The Saturday before Halloween, Dolores and Aubree asked to demonstrate what they had done. I’d been watching it go up, but I didn’t realize some of the features.
They made us go out to dinner while they prepared everything and called us when we could come back.

  “Park down the street and pretend you’re a trick-or-treater,” Dolores told me.

  So we did. Aubree and Dolores were wearing their fall coats, waiting for us.

  When we arrived, I saw that my driveway was partially gated off by what appeared to be a crumbling gated entry. It was open widely enough for a small group to step through. We stopped and stared. They had installed green and orange lights, giving everything a spooky glow, and I was knocked breathless. The fog machines were going, adding to the ambiance. I wouldn’t say the house looked exactly like the one from the TV show, but it gave a good impression of a run-down, haunted mansion.

  “Oh my god,” I said finally. “It’s amazing!”

  “You’re a trick-or-treater,” Dolores said. “Go ring the bell.”

  With her arm around me, Solange and I stepped through the open gate. They had arranged things on my driveway so we had to take a winding path to the front door, and as soon as we stepped through, the sound effects started.

  There was a dead bush in a shallow planter to our left, and I heard what sounded like a rabid dog growling at us. I jerked to the side, bumping into Solange. Behind me, Dolores giggled. A few steps later, we heard wolf howls from further off. From behind us, I heard the sound of a gate slamming closed, and I jumped, turning around, expecting to be locked in. Instead, all I saw was Dolores, grinning madly.

  “You’re going to scare the crap out of the kids,” I said.

  “We won’t use the scary stuff for the little ones,” she explained.

  We turned the corner at the front of the garage, moving towards the front door. Suddenly something lunged at me and, screaming, I spun towards it. I would have fallen if Solange hadn’t caught me. A ghost, five feet off the ground, dashed right through me, brushing me as it whipped past. Two more followed it, making loud, moaning sounds as they wafted past. I screamed a second time.

  Dolores was beside herself with glee at my reactions. Solange was trying to play it cool, but she had jumped a little, too.

  My put my hand to my chest, willing my pounding heart to stop. It wasn’t that the ghosts themselves were that scary, but they had caught me by surprise. I managed to calm down, but after that, I jumped at every little sound.

  The sidewalk was blocked off, and we were forced to travel out into the yard. As soon as we got there, I heard the sounds of bats, and then a few almost dived at us, pulling up at the last second. I screamed again and waved at them, but I missed.